MIAMI – September 4, 2018 – This fall, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) will present a dynamic lineup of exhibitions that highlight the institution’s history as a leading international modern and contemporary art museum for its 35th anniversary in January 2019. “From a documentary exhibition commemorating the 35th anniversary of Surrounded Islands—a site-specific installation in Miami by renowned artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude—to a special selection of gifts made to the museum since its beginning as a collecting institution to solo exhibitions of work by Lynne Golob Gelfman and Ebony G. Patterson, the upcoming season takes a look back on the history of the museum while looking forward to the next 35 years,” said Franklin Sirmans, PAMM’s director. A key highlight of the season will be The Gift of Art, an exhibition opening in October of 2018 that will bring together approximately 60 artworks from the museum’s permanent collection—from modern masterpieces by Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, Joaquín Torres-García, and Wifredo Lam to contemporary works by artists such as Carmen Herrera, Anish Kapoor, Wangechi Mutu, Zilia Sánchez, and many more.

This exhibition presents a selection of approximately 25 paintings by Miami-based artist Lynne Golob Gelfman, including several works from PAMM’s permanent collection and examples from as early as the 1960s. Gelfman produces in series, using paint on both canvas and wood. Miami’s natural environment, the textures of the sea, and bleaching effects of sunlight are strong influences for the artist, as are textiles and weavings from various contexts, including Colombia where the artist has lived and worked periodically throughout her career.

The museum’s permanent collection is a lasting manifestation of its belief in preserving and sharing art with both current audiences and future generations. In the lead-up to PAMM’s 35th anniversary in January 2019, The Gift of Art celebrates this understanding of art as a gift to the community while also paying tribute to the many significant donations that have been made to the museum since it first became a collecting institution in 1994. The exhibition will feature outstanding examples of the now more than 2,500 works of art gifted to the museum throughout the last several decades, including works by Lynda Benglis, Sam Gilliam, Carmen Herrera, Anish Kapoor, Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, Joan Mitchell, Oscar Murillo, Wangechi Mutu, Robert Rauschenberg, Zilia Sánchez, Frank Stella, Joaquín Torres García, Kara Walker, and Akram Zaatari among many others.

This exhibition of archival materials and artworks tied to the renowned artists’ site-specific 1983 installation in Miami’s Biscayne Bay, Surrounded Islands, commemorates the 35th anniversary of the project—an anniversary that also coincides with the founding of PAMM’s predecessor institution, the Center for Fine Arts, the following year. The original project was organized by Jan Van Der Marck, the museum’s founding director. The exhibition reinforces the idea that the museum’s evolution is inextricable from the development of Miami as both a city and an artistic hub.

Lead individual support from Camille and Patrick McDowell together with additional support from Maria Bechily and Scott Hodes, Patricia and William Kleh, Linda and David Frankel, Dorothy and Aaron Podhurst, Jaleh and Patrick Peyton, Nedra and Mark Oren, Gloria Scharlin, and from an anonymous donor is gratefully acknowledged.

Additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Funding Arts Network, Duty Free Americas, and JW Marriot Marquis Miami is also gratefully acknowledged.

This exhibition presents the work of Kingston-born artist Ebony G. Patterson. The most significant presentation of the artist’s work to date, the project includes examples of her artistic output over the last five years, embedded within a new installation environment that references a garden at night. Known for her drawings, tapestries, videos, sculptures, and installations that involve surfaces layered with flowers, glitter, lace, and beads, Patterson creates works that investigate forms of embellishment as they relate to youth culture within disenfranchised communities. Her neo-baroque works address violence, masculinity, “bling,” visibility, and invisibility within the post-colonial context of her native Jamaica and within black youth culture globally. This exhibition focuses on the role that gardens have played in her practice, referenced as spaces of both beauty and burial; environments filled with fleeting aesthetics and mourning.

Ebony G. Patterson: …while the dew is still on the roses… is organized by PAMM Chief Curator Tobias Ostrander. This exhibition is presented by Christian Louboutin with support from TILA Studios. Lead individual support received from Nedra and Mark Oren, and from an anonymous donor, is gratefully acknowledged.

About Pérez Art Museum Miami
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) promotes artistic expression and the exchange of ideas, advancing public knowledge and appreciation of art, architecture and design, and reflecting the diverse community of its pivotal geographic location at the crossroads of the Americas. Led by Director Franklin Sirmans, the nearly 35-year-old South Florida institution formerly known as Miami Art Museum (MAM), Pérez Art Museum Miami opened a new building, designed by world-renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron, in Downtown Miami’s Museum Park on December 4, 2013. The facility is a state-of-the-art model for sustainable museum design and progressive programming and features 200,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor program space with flexible galleries; shaded outdoor verandas; a waterfront restaurant and bar; a museum shop; and an education center with a library, media lab and classroom spaces. For more information, please visit http://www.pamm.org, find us on Facebook (facebook.com/perezartmuseummiami), or follow us on Instagram/Twitter (@pamm).